Tories call for ban on Scottish MPs voting on English matters

Their spokesman David Mundell has asked the Speaker of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who is himself Scottish, to take new powers to decide which laws they are entitled to have a say on.

The move by the Shadow Scottish Secretary follows a Labour-dominated committee report calling for action to stop the famous West Lothian Question blowing the UK apart.

The all-party Scottish Affairs Committee, dominated by Labour MPs, warned of growing resentment south of the border about the power Scottish MPs and cabinet ministers exercise over legislation which applies to England only.

In a range of matters, including education, health and law and order, Scots MPs can vote on issues which are devolved to the Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh in their constituencies.

The committee called for a range of measures to deal with this including a possible Scottish Super Grand Committee of the country's MPs, MSPs and Euro MPs to discuss such issues.

Senior Labour sources said they were furious that their own MPs had reopened this potentially explosive constitutional debate, with supporters of Chancellor Gordon Brown - Mr Blair's likely successor - particularly angry.